A Dragon's Duty

by CalebH


Chapter 4

Spike groaned softly as he stretched out. The Crystal Empire had sent him off with as many of the world’s tastiest gems as he could carry and upon completing his flight with Celestia his self-control finally caved. Now he lay in the Royal Gardens, a victim of his own gluttony.

“Whyyyy?” he pleaded to the soft evening sky.

“Because you ate a small mountain of gemstones in just under a minute.”

“But why did they have to taste sooo good?”

This question only seemed to merit an abrupt snort in response.

“It’s that new princess,” Spike continued. “Sure she acts all nice and flirty but she just wants me to eat myself to death so she can take my power. I’ll show her! I’ll—I’ll *BUUUURP*”

Princess Luna turned her head and regarded Spike with a smirk. “Feeling better?” she asked.

Spike responded with a murmur that sounded vaguely in the positive.

“Good, now stop moving. You’re much more comfortable when you aren’t squirming.”

“When did everypony become so concerned with how comfortable I was?” Spike asked indignantly.

“When you became the only piece of dragon furniture in existence, so a half-hour ago.”

Spike grumbled incoherently as he shifted to give Luna a better surface to lean against. Once he was done moving she shifted against him in a manner that might be described as snuggling.

“So what are you reading anyways?” he asked as she settled against his chest.

“I am not reading, I am conducting an experiment.”

“Oh?” Spike said with a raised eyebrow.

“Tax codes are a kind of optical illusion, only after being stared at for hours does a form of coherency emerge.”

“Didn’t you write quite a few tax codes?” Spike snickered.

“If you must know, I allowed Celestia to credit me with a few,” Princess Luna said primly.

“O come on!” Spike laughed, “I’ve seen how hard you work, those rumors of you just taking half credit for what Princess Celestia does can’t be true.”

“They are not,” Princess Luna said stiffly. “My rule is much less visible than Celestia’s but it is no less real. The closest approximation is to the Saddle Arabian Caliphs who rule over spiritual matters.”

“You need a bigger hat if you’re gonna be Equestria’s pope,” Spike said with a laugh.

“I am no religious leader!” Princess Luna declared. “Celestia reigns over Equestria’s flesh while I reign over her spirit. I follow no deity nor do I claim to be one. I am an advocate to the very spirit of this country. Through dreams I may speak to her innermost desires and through law I may regulate how those desires become achieved. Twilight has spent her life planting the seeds of harmony and friendship and it is my duty to tend them; to see that they suffer neither rot nor parasite and to trim them if they grow too wildly.”

“You still should get a bigger hat,” Spike insisted. “You should have the biggest, most elaborate hat in all of Equestria.”

“Why would I need such a hat?” Princess Luna asked with a chuckle.

“Because you have a good excuse to wear a friggin sweet hat that’s why. Plus ponies will always know you’re in charge because you have the best hat.”
“Only you would find a connection between headwear and rank,” Princess Luna said with a rueful shake of her head.

“Just for that you can’t come to my country where you can tell everypony’s rank just by their hat and nopony ever gets the sun in their eyes,” Spike said as he looked at Princess Luna in mock offence.

“You will be sorely missed, though I am sure that Celestia will give you generous tariffs on your hat imports.”

“That’s just until we steal all your milliners then we’ll control the world’s supply of fine headwear!” Spike declared with a false maniacal laugh.

Princess Luna gasped in mock horror. “How are the other nations of the world to compete at such a disadvantage?”

“Don’t worry,” Spike said, “Hatlandia will be benevolent with its power.”

Princess Luna’s composure shattered with a snort of laughter. “Hatlandia?” She turned away from her reading and looked at Spike with a disbelieving grin. “What sort of name is that?”

Spike gave a pompous sniff. “I’ll have you know that it was taken from the highest naming conventions in Equestria.”

“I am sure the founders of Ponyville are smiling in their graves that their tradition lives on.” As she spoke Princess Luna let herself fall along Spike’s chest coming to rest with her forelegs resting on one of his and her head resting against his collar bone.

Spike curled his serpentine neck around and looked at Princess Luna from over her scroll. “Yeah, I’m sure they are.”

Spike watched Princess Luna’s eyes as they slowly drifted up from the scroll. They found his own, glimmering in the moonlight and Spike’s breath caught in his throat. Luna looked at him with an open mouthed smile that was a mixture of amusement and surprise and he was sure she could feel his thundering heartbeat. Spike could feel his arm descending across her back. Just as he brushed her fur her voice caused him to jerk it back.

“It is late,” Princess Luna said, “my own duty calls and thou require at least some rest.”

Spike was vaguely aware that some response had gasped out of his lips. He remembered watching Princess Luna rise to her hooves and leave. He remembered resting his head on something white and papery that fluttered as he gave a heaving sigh of pent up breath. All of these things were pushed to the dark corners of Spike’s by the sheer force of the cold. Spike closed his arms around his chest but he could do nothing to lessen the aching, biting cold where the princess had been.

Spike snatched the blank piece of paper near his head and held it desperately to his chest as if it were some childish blanket as he slowly drifted to sleep.